, i Religions  of  the  World,  VII  ' 

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Mohammed 

The  Prophet  of  Arabia 

Jenkin  Lloyd  Jones 


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Religions  of  the  World,  VII 


Mohammed 

The  Prophet  of  Arabia 

Jenkin  Lloyd  Jones 


Unity  Publishing  Company 

175  Dearborn  Street 
Chicago 


Copyright,  1893 

BY 

THE  AUTHOR 


Metcalf  Stationery  Co.,  Printers 
Chicago 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016 


https://archive.org/details/mohamnnedprophetoOOjone 


“By  the  brightness  of  the  morning;  and  by  the  night  when  it 
groweth  dark:  thy  lord  hath  not  forsaken  thee,  neither  doth  he  hate 
thee.  Verily  the  life  to  come  shall  be  better  for  thee  than  this 
present  life:  and  thy  kord  shall  give  thee  a reward  wherewith 
thou  shalt  be  well  pleased.  Did  he  not  find  thee  an  orphan,  and 
hath  he  not  taken  care  of  thee?  And  did  he  not  find  thee  wander- 
ing in  error,  and  hath  he  not  guided  thee  into  truth?  And  did  he  not 
find  thee  needy,  and  hath  he  not  enriched  thee?  Wherefore 
oppress  not  the  orphan:  neither  repulse  the  begger:  but  declare 
the  goodness  of  thy  kord.” 

“That  is  not  righteousness:  whether  ye  turn  your  faces  towards 
East  or  West,  God’s  is  the  East  as  well  as  the  West.  But  verily 
righteousness  is  his  who  believes  in  God,  in  the  day  of  judgment, 
in’ the  angels,in  the  Book  and  the  prophets;who  bestows  his  wealth, 
for  God’s  sake,  upon  kindred,  and  orphans,  and  the  poor,  and  the 
homeless,  and  all  those  who  ask;  and  also  upon  delivering  the 
captives;  he  who  is  steadfast  in  prayer,  giveth  alms,  who  standeth 
firmly  by  his  covenants  when  he  has  once  entered  into  them;  and 
who  is  patient  in  adversity,  in  hardship,  and  in  times  of  trial. 
These  are  the  righteous,  and  these  are  the  God-fearing.” 

“When  the  night  overshadowed  Abraham,  he  saw  a star,  and 
he  said,  ‘This  is  my  kord;’  but  when  it  set,  he  said,  ‘O  my  people, 
verily  I am  clear  of  that  which  ye  associate  with  God:  I direct 
my  face  unto  him  who  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth.’  ” 

“And  in  the  people’s  absence  Abraham  went  into  the  temple 
where  the  idols  stood,  and  he  brake  them  all  in  pieces,  except 
the  biggest  of  them,  that  they  might  lay  the  blame  upon  that. 
And  when  they  were  returned,  and  saw  the  havoc  which  had  been 
made,  they  said,  ‘Who  hath  done  this  to  our  gods?  He  is  certainly 
an  impious  person.’  And  certain  of  them  answered,  ‘We  heard 
a young  man  speak  reproachfully  of  them:  he  is  Abraham.’  They 
said,  ‘Bring  him  therefore  before  the  people,  that  they  may  bear 
witness  against  him.’  And  when  he  was  brought  before  the  as- 
sembly, they  said  unto  him,  'Hast  thou  done  this  unto  our  gods,  O 
Abraham?’  He  answered  ‘Nay,  that  biggest  of  them  hath  done  it: 
but  ask  them  if  they  can  speak.’  And  they  returned  unto  them- 
selves, and  said  the  one  to  the  other,  ‘Verily,  ye  are  the  impious 
persons.’  Afterwards  they  elapsed  into  their  former  obstinacy 
and  said,  ‘Verily  thou  knowest  that  these  speak  not.’  Abraham 
answered,  ‘Do  ye  therefore  worship,  besides  God,  that  which 
cannot  profit  you  at  all,  neither  can  it  hurt  you?  Eie  on  you:  and 
upon  that  which  ye  worship  besides  God.  Do  ye  not  understand?’ 
They  said,  ‘Burn  him,  and  avenge  your  gods:  if  ye  do  this  it  will 
be  well.’  ” 


—From  the  Kora  » . 


Dim 


MOHAMMED 

THE  PROPHET  OF  ARABIA 


In  the  year  571  A.  D.,  in  the  sun-parched  val- 
ley of  Mecca,  Arabia,  was  bora  one  whose  name 
is  uttered  to-day  with  a reverence  second  only  to 
the  name  they  gpve  the  Eternal,  by  over  one 
hundred  and  fifty  million  people,  representing, 
speaking  in  round  numbers,  about  one-twelfth 
of  the  entire  inhabitants  of  the  globe,  and  occu- 
pying perhaps  one-third  of  the  territory  of  the 
civilized  world.  To  those  whose  school-days 
ended  a quarter  of  a century  or  more  ago,  the 
old  geographies  condensed  the  Christian  esti- 
mate if  not  the  Christian  knowledge  of  this  man 
into  a single  phrase,  as  follows:  “Mohammed 

was  an  impostor  who  flourished  in  Arabia  in  the 
seventh  century  of  the  Christian  era.’’  But 
in  less  than  twenty- five  years  there  has  come  in- 
to being  the  science  of  comparative  religions, 
since  which  time  it  is  difficult  to  find  any  intel- 
ligent man,  of  whatever  Christian  thought  or 


5 


6 Mohammed,  the  Prophet  oj  Arabia 

prejudice,  who  will  ascribe  to  this  man  the  char- 
acter of  ‘ ‘impostor.  ’ ’ Whatever  Mohammed  was 
not,  he  was  one  of  the  sincere  sons  of  earth. 
Whatever  claims  he  may  not  maintain,  all  are 
agreed  that  he  had  the  genius  of  sustained  ef- 
fort coupled  with  rare  insight.  And  these  things 
come  only  from  sincerity.  For  well  does  Car- 
lyle say,  “A  false  man  cannot  build  a brick 
house.”  Of  Mohammed,  his  hero-prophet,  he 
adds:  ‘‘This  silent,  great  soul  was  one  who 

could  not  but  be  in  earnest.”  I make  no  apol- 
ogy for  speaking  reverently  the  name  of  one  who 
for  twelve  centuries  has  been  a conquering 
power  in  the  world  of  souls,  a name  that  is  still 
moving  on,  subduing,  persuading,  ennobling 
wayward  spirits.  In  this  discourse  I shall  speak 
of  the  Man,  the  Book,  the  Religion  and  the 
People  suggested  by  this  name. 

I.  The  Man.  The  obscure  and  unpromising 
settings  of  his  birth  necessitated,  as  in  the  case 
of  most  of  the  other  great  teachers,  holy  inven- 
tions of  marvels  and  signs  by  later  ages  in  order 
to  give  the  great  life  what  seemed  to  be  a fitting 
origin.  His  father,  Abdallah,  was  a poor  mem- 
ber of  the  sacred  tribe  whose  duty  it  was  to  guard 
the  rude  sanctities  of  Mecca.  He  died  away 
from  home  before  the  young  wife,  Amina,  was 
delivered  of  her  first  born,  whom  she  called 


Mohaymned,  the  Prophet  oj  Arabia  7 

Mohammed,  “the  Praised.”  Four  camels,  a herd 
of  goats,  and  Baraka,  a faithful  slave  herder, 
constituted  the  widow’s  inheritance.  It  is  writ- 
ten that  grief  dried  up  the  maternal  fountains  in 
her  breasts,  and  that  the  babe  found  a foster- 
mother  in  the  tent  of  a shepherdess.  At  six 
years  old  the  child  was  taken  to  visit  his  father’s 
grave  at  a place  which  was  subsequently  known 
as  Modena,  a place  to  which  the  orphan  was 
destined  to  give  immortal  fame.  On  his  return 
the  child  found  himself  motherless  as  well  as 
fatherless.  Two  years  later  the  grandfather, 
who  had  been  to  him  as  a father,  died  also.  And 
the  sickly  little  waif,  who  from  his  infancy  seems 
to  have  been  subject  to  spasms  or  nerv’ous  attacks 
of  an  epileptic  nature,  finds  shelter  in  the  poor 
home  of  a paternal  uncle.  Abu-Talib,  the  uncle, 
seems  to  have  been  too  poor  to  retain  the  guard- 
ianship of  the  Sacred  Stone  and  the  Holy  Well. 
They  passed  into  richer  hands.  The  uncle  fol- 
lowed the  caravans  to  and  from  far-off  Syria, 
probably  as  a camel  driver,  while  the  child  made 
himself  useful  as  a herd  boy.  In  the  later  years 
of  his  life,  when  surrounded  by  a retinue  and 
honored  as  prophet  and  king,  he  said  to  one  sell- 
ing berries:  “Pick  me  out  some  of  the  blackest, 
for  they  are  sweet.  Even  such  was  I wont  to 
gather  when  I tended  the  flocks  of  Mecca.”  If 


8 Mohammed,  the  P7'ophet  of  Arabia 

is  probable  that  as  he  grew  older  the  boy  jour- 
neyed with  his  uncle  wherever  Arabian  trafl&c 
led  the  caravans.  At  twenty-four  he 
entered  the  service  of  Kadijah,  a wealthy  and 
honorable  widow  some  fifteen  years  his  senior. 
For  her  he  conducted  caravans  and  transacted 
business,  visiting,  among  other  places,  Jerusalem 
and  Damascus.  He  did  his  work  in  such  a w'ay 
that  his  employer  discovered  not  only  his  clear- 
ness of  head,  but  his  purity  and  warmth  of  heart. 
With  fitting  delicacy  but  evident  skill,  the  widow 
proceeded  to  exercise  the  unacknowledged  but 
often  practiced,  and,  for  aught  I see,  perfectly  le- 
gitimate right  of  wooing.  Kadijah’s  suit  was  suc- 
cessful, and  the  timid  camel  driver,  whose  bash- 
fulness had  been  compared  to  that  of  a veiled  vir- 
gin, found  in  the  wealthy  Kadijah  one  in  ever>' 
way  worthy  to  become  a companion  to  a prophet 
and  fellow-laborer  with  a reformer.  She  was  one 
who  could  soothe  him  in  his  feverish  hours, 
strengthen  him  in  his  moments  of  weakness,  en- 
courage him  in  his  high  undertaking  and  watch 
with  him  in  those  terrible  moments  of  doubt  and 
anxiety  that  must  come  into  the  life  of  every  man 
who  has  staked  all  his  time,  energy,  goods  and 
outward  life  upon  some  movement  of  the  unseen, 
in  the  interest  of  some  intangible  realities,  the 
foundations  of  which  are  within,  the  existence  of 


Mohavimed,  the  Prophet  of  Arabia  g 

which  is  known  to  spirit  alone.  The  wealth  of 
Kadijah  enabled  her  to  make  another  contribu- 
tion, invaluable  and  perhaps  indispen.sable  to  the 
reformation  of  Arabia.  She  lifted  the  life  of  the 
prophet  above  the  corroding  cares  and  carking 
anxieties  for  the  wherewith  to  preserve  his  life 
and  his  honesty  while  he  concenied  himself  with 
the  searching  problems  of  life,  and  spent  himself 
in  the  interest  of  others.  Kadijah  gave  to  this 
prophetic  soul  of  the  desert  lei.sure  in  which  to 
prophesy.  She  made  possible  that  periodic  retire- 
ment which  is  absolutely  indispensable  to  him  who 
is  to  come  forth  with  healing  and  power  in  his 
words.  Out  of  the  solitude  and  silences  of  life 
are  boni  the  immortal  sentences  as  well  as  the 
immortal  deeds.  Tragic  are  the  strains  of  him 
who  must  needs  serv'e  the  world  and  testify  to 
truth,  but  who  is  denied  that  freedom  from  the 
world  which  makes  it  possible  to  accomplish  his 
high  behest.  There  are  many  graphic  word  pic- 
tures, of  the  authenticity  and  validity  of  which 
there  is  no  room  for  serious  doubt,  preserv’^ed  for 
us  of  this  man.  For  many  years  he  seems  to  have 
gone  in  and  out  among  the  citizens  of  Mecca,  a 
meditative,  quiet,  respectable  and  respectful  citi- 
zen, without  giving  a hint  to  his  neighbors  of  any 
potency  within.  During  these  years  he  seems  to 
have  been  nothing  more  to  them  than  ‘ ‘one  of  our 


lo  Mohammed,  the  Prophet  of  Arabia 

best  citizens,  ’ ’ probably  most  often  regarded  as 
the  “fortunate  husband  of  Kadijah.’’  But  in- 
wardly there  must  have  been  the  turmoil  and  the 
triumphs  possible  only  to  great  souls.  If  there 
were  sweet  joys,  we  may  be  sure  that  there  were 
also  deep  sufferings.  Serious  thinking  and  high 
thoughts  spring  from  nothing  less  profound.  Out- 
wardly he  was  probably  the  “gentleman  with  a 
tinge  of  sadness,’’  perhaps  with  a touch  of  the 
impatience  with  surroundings  which  is  so  often 
misinterpreted  as  scorn,  pride,  or  misanthropy. 
Inwardly  the  observer  was  doubtless  ripening 
into  the  thinker,  and  the  law-abiding  citizen  and 
kindly  neighbor  was  ripening  into  a devotee. 

Here  is  one  of  the  word-photographs  of  him: 
“Medium  height,  broad  shoulders,  wide  chest, 
.strong  bone  and  muscle,  massive  head,  curling, 
dark  hair  falling  upon  his  shoulders,  black,  rest- 
le.ss  eyes  under  heavy  eye-la.shes,  manly,  oval 
face;  his  step  was  quick  and  firm  like  that  of  one 
desGending  a hill,  his  skin  was  clear  and  soft,  red 
and  white  appearing  through  the  tawny  complex- 
ion. His  hands  were  as  silk  and  satin;  his  coun- 
tenance was  mild  and  pensive.  ’ ’ Said  one:  “Oh 
my  little  son,  hadst  thou  seen  him,  thou  wouldst 
have  said,  ‘I  have  seen  a sun  ri.sing.’  ’’  Another 
testifies:  “I  saw  him  on  a moonlight  night  and 

he  was  brighter  and  more  beautiful  to  me  than 


Afokatumcd,  the  Prophet  of  Arabia  1 1 

the  moon.”  In  his  habits  he  was  simple  in  the 
midst  of  Arabian  simplicity.  His  dress  was  plain 
to  coarseness,  yet  fastidious  in  its  arrangement. 
He  was  fond  of  ablutions  and  perfumes.  In  the 
height  of  his  dignity  and  power  he  always  kindled 
his  own  fire,  swept  his  own  floor,  milked  his  own 
goats,  mended  his  own  clothes,  and  slept  on  a 
leathern  mat.  His  food  was  dates,  water  and 
barley  bread.  Honey  and  milk  were  luxuries 
which  he  seldom  allowed  himself.  At  times  he 
laughed  heartily,  showing  ‘‘teeth  white  as  hail- 
stones.” He  was  easy  of  approach,  ‘‘even  as  the 
river  bank  to  him  that  draweth  water  therefrom.” 
He  loved  and  was  beloved  by  animals.  He  al- 
ways had  a kind  word  for  children.  ‘‘He  was 
never  the  first  to  withdraw  his  hand  from  the 
grasp  of  one  tvho  offered  his.”  He  w’ould  not 
allow  servants  to  be  scolded.  Strong  drink  he 
abhorred.  Said  a servant,  ‘‘Ten  years  was  I 
about  the  prophet,  and  he  never  said  as  much  as 
‘tiff!’  to  me.”  When  asked  to  curse  one,  he  re- 
plied: ‘‘I  have  not  been  sent  to  curse,  but  to  be 

a mercy  to  man-kind.  ” He  visited  the  sick,  fol- 
lowed any  bier  he  met,  sat  at  the  table  of  slaves. 
Says  a native  biographer:  ‘‘His  hand  w'as  the 

most  generous;  his  breast  the  most  courageous; 
his  tongue  was  the  most  truthful.  He  w'as  a most 
faithful  protector,  the  sweetest  and  most  agreeable 


12  Mohammed,  the  Prophet  of  Arabia 

in  conversation;  those  who  saw  him  were  filled 
with  reverence;  those  who  came  near  him  loved 
him;  they  who  had  tried  to  describe  him  would 
say,  ‘I  have  never  seen  his  like  either  before  or 
after.’  ” 

These  are  some  of  the  pictures  preserved  in  the 
records  and  traditions  of  those  who  were  reformed 
and  redeemed  by  this  man.  To  those  who  are 
inclined  to  distrust  this  picture  and  to  dismiss  it 
as  an  ideal,  I reply  that  it  is  the  idealized  Mo- 
hammed that  is  the  religious  prophet  of  the  one 
hundred  and  fifty  million  souls,  as  it  is  the  ideal- 
ized Buddha,  Confucius,  and  Jesus,  that  have 
consecrated  souls  and  shrines  innumerable  all 
over  the  face  of  the  earth.  In  the  second  place, 
this  idealized  picture,  as  the  other  idealizations, 
instead  of  over-reaching  must  necessarily  fall 
short  of  any  real  measurement  of  the  facts  in  the 
case.  What  words  can  outline  the  power  centered 
in  these  major  prophets  of  the  race?  These  de- 
scriptions may  or  may  not  fit  the  inoffensive  hus- 
band of  Kadijah,  the  well-to-do  citizen  of  Mecca, 
but  who  dares  believe  that  they  adequately  meas- 
ure the  soul  after  it  had  burst  its  bands  and  risen 
to  a kindling  realization  of  a divine  mission?  Who 
will  portray  the  man  enkindled  by  heavenly  fire 
that  was  to  burn  so  much  dross,  cruelty  and 
superstition  out  of  the  world?  The  reverence  that 


Mohammed,  the  Prophet  of  Arabia  13 

bows  in  humility  before  the  simplest  flower  must 
not  be  arrogant  in  the  presence  of  a spiritual  hero. 
He  who  can  say, — 

“Flower  in  the  crannied  wall, 

I pluck  you  out  of  the  crannies: — 

Hold  you  here,  root  and  all,  in  my  hand. 

Little  flower — but  if  I could  understand 
What  you  are,  root  and  all,  and  all  in  all, 

I should  know  what  God  and  man  is,” — 

must  not  be  too  incredulous  in  the  presence  of  the 
great  prophet  of  Arabia.  We  can  ill  afford  to  dis- 
trust the  poor  attempts  of  the  human  heart  to  out- 
line a truth-seeker  and  a truth-teller  so  long  as 
these  attempts  do  not  violate  the  methods  of  the 
universe  or  throw  discredit  on  the  laws  of  God. 

The  Mohammed  thus  far  described,  the  fortu- 
nate citizen  of  Mecca,  had  he  died  in  the  fortieth 
year  of  his  age,  would  have  gone  down  beneath 
the  resistless  tide  of  the  centuries. 

Can  we  get  a glimpse  of  the  soul  life  of  this 
helper?  I have  spoken  of  the  leisure  which  the 
fortunate  marriage  brought  him.  Tradition  says, 
“Solitude  became  now  a passion  with  him.”  The 
while  his  neighbors  prayed  and  fasted  according 
to  the  Mecca  ritual,  he  spent  days  and  nights  in 
a sunless  cave  an  hour’s  walk  away.  During  one 
of  these  somber  experiences  in  the  middle  of  the 
night,  “the  blessed  night  of  Al-kadir,”  the  Koran 


14  Mohammed,  the  Prophet  of  Arabia 

calls  it,  a vision  came  to  him,  saying,  “Cry!” 
“What  shall  I cry?”  “Cry-,  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord.”  And  the  cell  was  flooded  with  cele.stial 
light;  and  the  angel  displayed  a silver  robe,  ex- 
claiming, “O,  Mohammed!  thou  art  indeed  a 
prophet  of  God,  and  I am  his  angel  Gabriel.” 
There  are  other  external  trappings  to  a story 
which,  it  is  easy  for  us  to  believe,  is  an  inward 
experience  outwardly  portrayed.  These  words 
are  very  suggestive:  “He  felt  as  if  a book  had 

been  written  in  his  heart.”  He  promptly  seeks 
his  spiritual  friend  and  soul  companion  and  says 
to  her  in  his  perplexity,  ‘ ‘Am  I who  have  not  be- 
lieved it  to  become  a soothsayer,  or  mad?” 
Kadijah  believed  in  her  husband.  Love  had 
opened  her  eyes,  and  she  said,  “Rejoice,  O dear 
husband;  be  oi  good  cheer.  No  harmful  thing 
has  happened  to  thee,  for  thou  .speakest  truth, 
dost  not  return  evil  for  evil,  keepest  faith,  art  of 
a good  life,  kind  to  thy  relations  and  friends, 
neither  art  thou  a talker  abroad  in  the  bazaar. 
Thou  wilt  yet  surely  be  the  prophet  of  the  people.  ’ ’ 
Blessed  be  the  name  of  Kadijah.  True  to  wom- 
an’s higher  instincts,  she  was  prompt  to  recognize 
and  quick  to  encourage  the  prophetic  movements 
of  the  human  soul.  Nay,  more  than  that;  she  her- 
self had  the  prophet’s  insight,  and  saw  that 
morality  was  the  sure  foundation  of  prophecy  and 


15 


AfoJiavnncd,  the  Prophet  of  .Uabia 

nobility  the  unquestioned  evidence  of  a life  from 
God  and  with  God.  Her  venerable  cousin,  War- 
aca,  one  who  “knew  the  Scriptures  of  the  Jews 
and  Christians,’’  was  taken  into  the  wife’s  confi- 
dence, and  the  dark  and  tiying  experiences  of  her 
husband  in  the  cave  were  detailed.  And  she,  ac- 
cording to  the  narrative,  exclaimed,  “Holy!  Hoi}'! 
This  is  the  same  law  that  came  to  Moses.  Tell 
him  he  will  be  the  prophet  of  his  people.  Bid  him 
be  of  brave  heart.’’ 

But,  like  Moses  and  all  truly  great  souls,  Mo- 
hammed hesitated  and  distrusted,  now  driven  to 
the  brink  of  suicide  by  an  unseen  force,  then  lured 
by  an  entrancing  vision  of  troops  of  people  enter- 
ing through  him  into  the  religion  of  the  one  true 
God.  Gradually  he  began  to  dissuade  his  people 
to  abandon  their  gross  idolatr}^  One  after  another 
were  shaped  in  his  mind  and  thrown  out  to  his 
neighbors  the  sentences  and  texts  that  finally 
took  form  in  the  Koran,  the  bible  of  Arabia. 
At  the  end  of  three  years  he  could  count  only 
fourteen  converts,  the  first  of  whom  were  the  faith- 
ful wife,  her  cousin,  his  daughter  and  his  ser\’ant. 
His  kinsfolks  sneered.  The  \’illagers  called 
him  a driveller,  a star-gazer,  a maniac-poet.  The 
dignitaries  pointed  the  finger  at  him  as  he  passed, 
scornfully  saying,  “There  goes  the  son  of  Abdal- 
lah, who  has  converse  with  the  heavens.’’ 


1 6 Mohammed,  the  Prophet  of  Arabia 

For  ten  years  more  he  continued  this  quiet,  patient 
work  of  reformation.  Slowly  the  leaven  worked. 
Meanwhile,  opposition  grew.  Mutterings  and 
threats  followed  him  around.  Wealth  used  its 
weapons.  Politics  tried  to  intimidate.  His  uncle 
and  foster-father,  Abu-Talib,  could  not  under- 
stand his  nephew’s  protest,  but  continued  to  be- 
lieve in  his  integrity.  When  he  learned  that 
the  villagers  had  declared  this  blasphemy 
against  the  gods  should  be  borne  no  longer,  he 
sent  for  Mohammed,  remonstrated  with  him,  and 
gently  threatened.  For  was  he  not  endangering 
the  lives  of  the  ancient  and  sacred  tribes?  The 
prophet  burst  into  tears  as  he  replied,  “By  Allah! 
uncle,  if  they  put  the  sun  to  my  right  hand  and 
the  moon  to  my  left,  I will  not  give  up  the  course 
I am  pursuing  until  Allah  gives  me  success,  or  I 
perish,’’  and  he  turned  away.  The  uncle’s 
heart  melted,  and  he  cried,  “Come  back!  son  of 
my  brother!  Depart  in  peace,  O m}"  nephew!  Say 
whatever  thou  desirest.  For,  bj-  Allah!  I will  in 
no  wise  abandon  thee  forever.  ’ ’ Oppression  in- 
creased. The  weaker  followers  emigrated,  seek- 
ing and  finding  protection  under  a Jewish  Chris- 
tian king  in  Abyssinia.  Mecca  sent  a delegation 
asking  for  their  expulsion,  but  the  reformed  Arab- 
ians showed  the  chapter  in  their  scripture  which 
fantastically  but  re.spectfully  speaks  of  John  the 


Mohammed,  the  Prophet  of  Arabia  17 

Baptist  and  Jesus,  and  having  urged  the  case  in 
the  following  language,  they  were  allowed  to  re- 
main: 

*“We  lived  in  ignorance,  in  idolatry,  in  unchastity, 
the  strong  oppressed  the  weak;  we  spoke  untruth;  we 
violated  the  duties  of  hospitality.  Then  a prophet 
arose,  one  whom  we  knew  from  our  youth,  with  whose 
descent,  and  conduct,  and  good  faith  and  morality,  we 
are  all  well  acquainted.  He  told  us  to  worship  one 
God;  to  speak  the  truth;  to  keep  good  faith;  to  assist 
our  relations;  to  fulfill  the  rights  of  hospitality;  to  ab- 
stain from  all  things  impure,  ungodly,  unrighteous. 
And  he  ordered  us  to  say  prayers,  give  alms,  and  to 
fast.  We  believed  in  him.  We  followed  him.  But 
our  countrymen  persecuted  us,  tortured  us,  and  tried 
to  cause  us  to  forsake  our  religion.  And  now  we  throw 
ourselves  upon  your  protection  and  confidence.” 

About  this  time  the  faithful  wife  and  the  pro- 
tecting uncle  died;  and  the  prophet  found  himself 
penniless.  Pilgrims  coming  from  Medina,  the 
burial  place  of  his  father,  a city  three  days’  travel 
to  the  northward,  had  learned  of  the  fame  of  the 
rising  prophet  and  were  friendly  to  him.  This 
precipitated  the  crisis.  Concealment  and  flight 
became  necessary . Thus  runs  the  beautiful  story : 
With  a single  follower  he  finds  lodgement  in  a 
cave.  Here  they  spend  the  night.  Early  in  the 
morning  pursuers  are  on  their  track.  The  fugi- 
tives  listen  to  the  noise  of  their  approach.  ‘ ‘There 

*Literary  remains  of  Emanuel  Deutsch,  Islam,  p.  107. 


1 8 Mohammed,  the  Prophet  of  Arabia 

are  but  two  of  us,  we  had  better  surrender,  ’ ’ said 
the  attendant.  “Nay,  three  of  us,”  says  the 
prophet;  “you,  I,  and  Allah.”  A dove  sits  un- 
disturbed upon  her  nest  at  the  mouth  of  the  cave. 
During  the  night  a spider  has  thrown  its  web 
across  the  opening.  These  witnesses  to  the  soli- 
tude within  throw  the  pursuers  off  the  track,  and 
they  leave  the  cave  unexplored.  Says  Bosworth 
Smith  in  his  interesting  book  on  Mohammed  and 
Mohammedanism,  “By  a sound  instinct,  this,  one 
of  the  sublimest  stories  in  all  history,  has  been 
made  to  mark  the  era  of  Mohammedan  chronolo- 
gy. Their  A.  H.  i,  Anno  Hegira,  the  Year  of 
Flight,  corresponds  with  our  A.  D.  622,  Anno 
Domini,  the  Year  of  our  Ford.” 

The  entrance  into  Medina  marks  a new  era  in 
the  life  of  the  prophet.  Islam,  which  probably 
means  ‘ ‘submission  to  God’s  will,  ’ ’ begins.  Kadi- 
jah,  the  good  angel,  is  dead.  Instead  of  welcome 
and  the  rest  and  love  that  restores,  he  finds  oppo- 
sition. Soon  the  persecuted  finds  himself  at  the 
head  of  a defensive,  then  an  advancing,  and  final- 
ly a persecuting  movement.  He  builds  a place 
of  worship.  He  assumes  leadership.  At  the  end 
of  the  second  year  he  has  an  army  of  three  hun- 
dred and  five  followers.  Success  is  taken  as  evi- 
dence of  divine  favor,  and  the  rapid  conquest  of 
Arabia  follows.  Seven  years  after  the  flight  he 


Afoha  m mcd,  the  Prophet  of  A ra  bia  1 9 

returns  to  Mecca,  and  the  pilgrim  is  received 
with  triumphal  honors. 

In  the  tenth  year  of  the  Hegira,  surrounded  by 
loving  disciples,  with  words  of  trust  on  his  lips, 
Mohammed  died.  When  Omar,  an  enthusiastic 
captain,  declared  that  the  prophet  could  not  die, 
Abu-Bekr,  a wiser  and  earlier  friend,  said,  “It 
is  not  Mohammed  but  the  God  of  Mohammed  we 
have  leanied  to  worship.”  One  of  the  prophet’s 
own  battle  orders  was  recalled.  “Mohammed  is 
no  more  than  a prophet.  What  if  he  had  been 
killed;  need  ye  go  back?  He  that  turneth  back 
injureth  not  God  in  the  least,  but  himself.” 

2.  The  Book.  A careful  student  has  charac- 
terized the  Koran  as  “the  best  known  and  most 
revered  book  in  all  the  world.  ’ ’ The  learned  and 
lamented  Emanuel  Deutsch  sa}-s:  “No  religious 

work  extant  bears  so  clearl}'  and  emphatically  the 
traces  of  one  mind.  ’ ’ According  to  this  scholar 
the  name  Koran  is  equivalent  to  our  w'ord  “Cr>%” 
the  word  the  angel  spoke  to  him  in  his  earliest 
vision.  A1  Koran  w'as  “The  Ciy,”  the  prophetic 
call,  the  message  of  religion  w’hich  God  had  given 
to  the  Arabian  people  through  Mohammed  its 
prophet.  It  consists  in  the  main  of  disconnected  bits 
of  wisdom,  history',  tradition  and  ritual  which  the 
prophet  dictated  to  his  confidential  attendants.  It 


20  Mohamyned,  the  Prophet  of  Arabia 

is  doubtful  whether  Mohammed  knew  how  to 
write,  at  least  at  the  beginning  of  his  career.  At 
the  time  of  his  death  these  chapters,  or  suras,  as 
they  are  called,  were  scattered  bits,  reverentially 
held  in  the  hands  of  the  faithful.  Zaid,  a faithful 
scribe,  was  selected  by  the  earlier  followers  to 
make  the  compilation.  From  flat  stones,  pieces 
of  leather,  ribs  of  palm  leaves,  but  chiefly  from 
the  breasts  of  men,  the  memories  of  his  follow- 
ers, were  the  pages  gathered.  No  attempt  seems 
to  have  been  made  at  chronology  or  editing.  The 
only  order  of  arrangement  was  probably  an  at- 
tempt to  put  the  longest  first;  but  even  this  rule 
is  often  violated.  Carlyle  describes  the  book  thus 
made  as  follows: 

“It  is  as  toilsome  reading  as  I ever  undertook.  A 
wearisome,  confused  jumble,  crude,  incondite;  endless 
iterations,  long-windedness,  entanglement;  most  crude, 
incondite; — insupportable  stupidity,  in  short!  Nothing 
but  a sense  of  duty  would  carry  any  European  through 
the  Koran.  We  read  in  it,  as  we  might  in  the  State- 
Paper  Office,  unreadable  masses  of  lumber,  that  per- 
haps we  may  get  some  glimpses  of  a remarkable  man.” 

As  a book  of  religion,  judged  by  its  power  over 
the  people  who  revere  it,  it  ranks  immeasurably 
higher  than  as  a book  of  literature.  The  very 
fragmentary  character  of  its  sentences,  the  constant 
reiteration  of  a few  moral  precepts,  is  the  .secret  of 
its  power.  It  is  in  extent  about  the  size  of  our 


Mohanwicd,  the  Prophet  of  Arabia  21 

New  Testament.  In  a properly  conducted  mosque, 
it  is  absolutely  read  through,  every  word  of  it, 
every  da>'  in  the  j’ear,  thirty  relays  of  priests  be- 
ing employed  to  carr>'  on  the  reading. 

Had  I the  ability,  I have  not  the  time  to  attempt 
an  analj'sis  of  its  teaching.  Ever>'  chapter  is  in- 
troduced with  the  words,  “In  the  name  of  Allah, 
the  merciful  and  compassionate.’’  Its  precepts  in 
the  main  represent  devout,  trustful  morality,  with 
little  that  is  sensuous  in  its  images,  common  im- 
pression to  the  contrary’  notwithstanding.  The 
heaven  and  hell  of  the  Mohammedan  are  not  more 
sensuous  than  the  descriptions  of  the  same  in  an 
ordinar>^  camp-meeting.  Read  the  most  graphic 
and  fantastic  passages  in  the  sixteenth  and  one 
hundred  and  first  suras,  then  compare  them  with 
similar  passages  from  the  book  of  Revelation,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  w'orks  of  Jonathan  Edwards 
and  his  kind,  and  you  wdll  realize  how  unfounded 
is  the  popular  impression  concerning  this  matter. 

It  is  probable  that  the  barren,  weird  and  unpo- 
etic  land  of  Arabia  is  also  responsible  for  the  com- 
mon impression  that  the  Allah  of  the  Moslem,  the 
God  of  Arabia,  is  a grim,  unrelenting,  unlovable, 
though  omnipotent  potentate.  Those  who  have 
studied  it  most  closely  are  most  prompt  to  deny 
such  sweeping  assertions.  No  New  Testament 
phrase  is  more  tender  or  Hebrew  psalm  more 


22  Mohavwted,  the  Prophet  oj  Arabia 

trustful  than  are  the  words  of  the  ninety-third  sura, 
entitled  “The  Brightness,”  while  other  portions 
prove  not  only  the  tenderness  but  the  breadth  of 
Mohammed’s  thought,  for  his  intensity  did  not 
defeat  his  universality.  The  piety  of  submission, 
the  sanctity  of  the  inevitable,  the  sacredness  of 
fate,  which  form  so  much  of  the  burden  of  Mo- 
hammed’s gospel,  are  elements  of  universal  religion 
and  touch  the  undying  needs  of  the  human  soul. 

The  central  doctrine  of  the  Koran  is  what  Renan 
would  have  us  believe  to  be  the  central  thought 
of  the  Semitic  race,  of  which  the  Arabs  are  a 
branch,  namely,  the  oneness  of  Deity,  the  unity 
of  God.  If  Christianity  had  not  yielded  to  the 
polytheizing  tendency  of  Greece  and  ameliorated 
the  severity  of  its  monotheism  into  a tri-theism, 
perhaps  Mohammedanism  might  never  have  had  an 
existence  as  a separate  religion.  The  Koran 
bristles  with  its  resentment  to  idolatry.  It  brooks 
no  division  of  the  onene.ss  of  the  Divine.  Mah- 
moud, the  conqueror  of  Hindoostan,  was  offered, 
it  is  recorded,  ten  million  pounds  sterling  if  he 
would  only  spare  the  famous  idol  in  the  pagoda  at 
Surat.  Spite  of  his  well  known  avarice,  he  re- 
plied, “Never  shall  Mahmoud,  the  idol-destroyer, 
go  down  to  posterity  as  an  idol-seller.”  And  he 
broke  the  sacred  image  into  pieces.  Says  Bosworth 
Smith; 


23 


Mohammed,  the  Prophet  of  Arabia 

“Mohammedanism  is  essentially  a spiritual  religion. 
As  instituted  by  Mohammed,  it  had  ‘no  priest  and  no 
sacrifice’;  in  other  words,  no  caste  of  sacrificing  priests 
were  ever  allowed  to  come  between  the  humau  soul  and 
God;  forbidding  the  representation  of  all  liviug  things 
alike,  whether  as  objects  of  use  or  of  admiration,  of 
veneration  or  of  worship,  Mohammedanism  is  more 
opposed  to  idolatry  even  than  we  are  ourselves.  Mo- 
hammed hated  images  more  sternly  even  than  the 
Iconoclasts  of  Constantinople  or  the  soldiers  of  Crom- 
well. Every  mosque  in  the  world  of  Islam  bears  wit- 
ness to  this.  Statuary  and  pictures  being  forbidden, 
variegated  marbles  and  festoons  of  lamps,  and  geomet- 
ric shapes,  and  tortuous  inscriptions  from  the  Koran 
have  to  supply  their  place  as  best  they  can,  and  form 
that  peculiar  species  of  ornamentation,  strictly  con- 
fined to  the  inanimate  world,  which  we  call  Arabesque; 
and  which  is  still  to  be  traced  in  the  architecture  of  so 
many  churches  and  so  many  mosques  along  the  fron- 
tier line  of  four  thousand  miles  which  divides  the  realm 
of  the  Crescent  from  that  of  the  Cross.” 

Naturally  to  us,  the  most  interesting  passages 
in  the  Koran  are  those  which  carry  us  back  to 
Father  Abraham,  from  whom  the  three  great  mon- 
otheistic faiths  of  the  world  claim  to  have  descend- 
ed. In  the  sixth  and  twenty-first  suras  we  have 
vivid  oriental  arguments  against  idolatry  and 
polytheism,  while  the  one  hundred  and  twelfth 
sura  contains  the  banner  words,  the  rallying  cry 
of  Islam,  whether  the  call  be  to  battle  or  to  praj^er. 


24  Mohammed,  the  Prophet  of  Arabia 

The  general  in  the  field  and  the  dervdsh  from  his 
minaret  both  loudly  proclaim, 

“God  is  one  God,  the  Eternal  God.  He 
begetteth  not,  neither  is  he  begotten. 
And  there  is  not  any  one  like  unto  him.” 

But  not  by  what  this  book  contains  for  us,  not 
by  its  literary,  religious,  or  philosophic  contents, 
measured  by  our  standard,  are  we  to  estimate  it. 
Rather  must  we  judge  it  by  its  mighty  power  in 
history;  by  the  way  it  has  .swayed  a half- barbar- 
ous, nomadic  people  into  the  ways  of  ordered  gov- 
ernment; b}^  the  power  that  it  has  had  and  still 
has  in  holding  in  check  the  passions  of  men  and 
arousing  the  loyalties  of  the  soul.  Again  I quote 
from  Deutsch: 

“By  the  aid  of  the  Koran  the  Arabs  conquered  a 
world  greater  than  that  of  Alexander  the  Great,  great- 
er than  that  of  Rome,  and  in  as  many  tens  of  years  as 
the  latter  had  wanted  hundreds  to  accomplish  her  con- 
quests; by  the  aid  of  which  they,  alone  of  all  the  Shem- 
ites,  came  to  Europe  as  kings,  whither  the  Phoenicians 
had  come  as  tradesmen,  and  the  Jews  as  fugitives  or 
captives.  They  came  to  Europe  to  hold  up,  together 
with  these  fugitives,  the  light  to  Humanity — they 
alone,  while  darkness  lay  around;  to  raise  up  the  wis- 
dom and  knowledge  of  Hellas  from  the  dead,  to  teach 
philosophy,  medicine,  astronomy,  and  the  golden  art 
of  song  to  the  West  as  well  as  to  the  East,  to  stand  at 
the  cradle  of  modern  science,  and  to  cause  us  late 


Mohammed,  the  Prophet  of  Arabia  25 

epigoni  forever  to  weep  over  the  day  when  Granada 
fell.” 

3.  The  Religion  and  the  People.  This 
brilliant  passage  tempts  a wider  sweep  of  the 
mind,  and  we  will  tr^’  to  look  at  this,  religion 
in  a larger  way.  Here  again  we  must  not  forget 
that  Mohammed  is  one  thing  and  Mohammedan- 
ism quite  another.  It  is  not  for  me  to  trace  the 
brilliant  career  of  the  Saracens,  to  follow  the  devas- 
tating tracks  of  the  Moors,  or  trace  the  triumph- 
ant march  of  the  crescent,  which  at  one  time  came 
so  near  supplanting  the  cross  above  the  thrones 
of  Europe.  I may  not  be  able  to  show  the  influ- 
ence of  this  religion  in  modifying  and  humanizing 
the  harsh  Turkish  races  over  which  the  crescent 
floats.  Still  less  can  I show  how  the  Mohamme- 
dan leaven  is  even  now  pushing  its  ferment  into 
the  heart  of  Africa,  India  and  China.  And  nearly 
always  for  the  betterment  of  the  people  it  reaches; 
that  is,  it  is  supplanting  lower  forms  of  religion 
and  more  degrading  standards  of  morals.  The 
Nile  from  source  to  mouth  is  to-day  a Mohamme- 
dan river.  The  Jordan,  the  Euphrates,  the 
Ganges,  and  the  Yang-tse-kiang,  all  the  ancient 
sacred  rivers  of  the  East,  to-day  fertilize  the  terri- 
tory' of  Islam  and  slake  the  thirst  of  the  most  tem- 
perate people  in  the  world,  the  very'  constitution 
of  whose  religion  forbids  the  intoxicating  draught. 


26  Mohatmned,  the  Prophet  of  Arabia 

Much  of  this  has  been  told  in  the  fiftieth,  fifty-first 
and  fifty-second  chapters  of  Gibbon’s  History  of 
the  Roman  Empire,  perhaps  the  most  brilliant 
chapters  in  that  brilliant  work.  And  the  subse- 
quent studies  of  Lecky,  Draper,  and  others,  have 
essentially  confirmed  the  conclusions  of  Gibbon. 

The  story  of  Mohammedanism,  it  must  be  con- 
fessed, contains  many  atrocities,  much  cruelty, 
mountains  of  barbarism.  Of  these  facts  he  who 
seeks  will  find  ready  information.  But  still  I 
think  it  must  be  said  with  great  emphasis  that 
Mohammed  did  come  into  the  world  as  a mighty 
reformer,  and  that  Mohammedanism  has  made  a 
magnificent  contribution  to  human  progress,  the 
enlargement  of  mind  and  the  elevation  of  morals. 
The  Koran  was  no  sooner  in  existence  than  it 
called  for  interpretations.  And  grammarians,  lex- 
icographers, rhetoricians  and  school-masters, 
sprung  up  everywhere.  Says  Draper: 

-In  less  than  a century  after  the  death  of  Moham- 
med, the  Iliad,  the  Odyssey  and  philosophic  authors, 
had  been  translated  into  Arabic.  Schools  of  medicine, 
law  and  astronomy,  were  started  in  Bagdad,  and  dur- 
ing the  ninth  century  when  Christian  Europe  was 
dull  and  stupid  with  its  superstition  and  ignorance,  the 
Moslem  kingdom  was  busy  in  collecting  great  libraries, 
establishing  schools  in  connection  with  every  mosque, 
originating  the  systematic  study  of  the  Natural  Sci- 
ences, particularly  geometry,  algebra,  optics  and  chem- 


Mohammed,  the  Prophet  of  Ara bia  2 7 

istry.  The  great  library  at  Cairo  contained  one  hund- 
dred  thousand  of  transcribed  volumes,  six  thousand 
five  hundred  on  medicine  and  astronomy  alone.  The 
Saracen  Empire  was  dotted  with  colleges.  In  these 
times,  and  by  these  people,  clocks  were  invented;  ni- 
tric acid,  sulphuric  acid  and  alcohol,  were  discovered. 
In  agriculture,  they  were  devoting  themselves  to  prob- 
lems of  irrigation,  manuring,  and  the  improvement  of 
their  breeds  of  cattle.  The  culture  of  rice,  sugar  and 
coffee,  was  introdnced  by  them,  and  the  manufacture 
of  silk,  leather,  paper,  and  book-binding  encouraged.” 

All  through  these  centuries  of  conflict  anti  car- 
nage, the  terrible  generations  of  war  and  hatred, 
the  Mohammedan  religion  held  its  dominant  sway. 
Compared  with  the  other  religions  studied  in  this 
course,  Mohammedanism  has  preseiwed  its  purity 
in  thought  and  standards  to  a remarkable  degree, 
however  it  may  have  failed  in  practice.  Moham- 
med from  first  to  last  has  been  a man,  earth-en- 
vironed, confessing  the  limitations  of  his  human  na- 
ture. He  wrought  no  miracles  and  based  his 
religion  on  no  miraculous  claim,  save  the  astound- 
ing miracles  of  the  universe,  of  man,  and  the 
Koran,  which  is  the  revelation  of  God  to  man 
through  man.  He  always  presented  himself  as  a 
poor  sinner  but  a great  prophet.  Islam  has  always 
been  a comparatively  simple  religion,  with  a brief 
creed  universal  in  its  scope,  and  few,  but  forceful 
sacraments.  The  month  of  fasting  and  prayer, 


28  Mohammed,  the  Prophet  of  A I'abia 

the  Ramidan,  a survival  of  the  pre- Mohammedan 
religion,  alternates  from  mid-winter  to  mid-sum- 
mer so  as  to  cultivate  self-denying  endurance  in 
the  extremes  of  nature.  During  these  days 
enemies  are  to  sheathe  their  swords  and  even 
marauders  cease  their  plunder.  A pilgrimage 
once  during  a lifetime  to  Mecca  is  the  dream  and 
hope  of  every  faithful  Mohammedan.  He  goes 
thence  to  kiss  the  Kaaba,  the  black  stone,  sup- 
posed by  the  scientific  to  be  a pre-historic  aerolite. 
I^egend  says  it  was  at  first  white,  but  has  been 
turned  black  by  the  kisses  of  sinful  men.  The  last 
was  the  one  superstition  so  deeply  rooted  that 
even  Mohammed  did  not  dare  attempt  its  removal. 

In  the  one  miraculous  journey  made  in  a dream 
to  heaven,  riding  on  a ray  of  light,  Mohammed 
encountered  Moses,  who  told  him  that  the  Lord 
required  of  his  people  fifty  prayers  a day.  Mo- 
hammed demurred,  and  pleaded  that  his  people 
were  not  equal  to  it,  and  begged  of  Moses  to  re- 
turn with  a petition  that  the  number  might  be 
reduced.  Moses  came  back  with  the  answer  that 
the  number  had  been  abated  to  forty.  Again  a 
remonstrance;  again  a reduction  often;  this  con- 
tinued until  the  number  was  reduced  to  five.  The 
last  command  was  accepted.  And  to  this  day  the  de- 
vout Moslem  the  world  over  prostrates  himself  fiv'^e 
times  each  day  before  the  Unseen,  murmuring  the 


29 


Mohammed,  the  Prophet  of  Arabia 

words,  “Allah  il  Allah,’’  “The  Lord  is  one  Lord.’’ 
In  all  Mohammedan  structures,  be  it  church,  home 
or  school,  there  is  an  easily  discov’ered  mark  indi- 
cating the  direction  of  Mecca.  Towards  this  all 
turn  in  the  hours  of  their  devotion.  All  the  de- 
vout carry'  a triple-stringed  rosary,  each  composed 
of  thirty-three  beads,  by  rnearts  of  which  they  tell 
the  ninety-nine  beautiful  names  of  Allah.  Both 
the  rrame  and  the  practice  are  beautifully  presented 
to  us  in  Edwin  Arnold’s  “Pearls  of  Faith.’’  The 
first  name  given  in  this  list  is  “The  Merciful,’’ 
the  last  is  “The  Patient.’’  Strictly  speaking, 
Islam  is  a religion  without  priests.  Pious  officials 
from  the  minarets  of  their  mosques,  with  the  aid  of 
gongs  or  cymbals  summon  the  faith  fitl  to  prayer 
with  the  cry,  “God  is  gre.\t!  God  is  great! 
There  is  no  God  but  God!  Moh.^iimed  is  his 
apostle!  Come  to  prayers!  Come  to  pray- 
ers!’’ When  the  invitation  is  given  at  early  dawn, 
to  this  cry  is  added:  “Prayer  is  better  than 

sleep!  Pr.w'Er  is  better  than  sleep!’’  These 
exhortations  have  not  gone  without  their  intended 
effect.  He  has  studied  the  human  heart  superfici- 
ally and  has  an  inadequate  psychology  who  cannot 
see  how  such  a call,  running  through  the  ages  and 
through  the  continents  of  selfish,  passionate  hu- 
manity, must  have  girdled  the  earth  with  humility 
and  caused  the  flowers  of  reverence,  gentleness  and 


30  Mohammed,  the  Prophet  of  Arabia 

submission,  to  bloom  more  abundantly  in  the  gar- 
dens of  God. 

We  think  so  persistently  of  the  hardness,  the 
cruelty  and  austerity  of  Islam,  that,  without  for- 
getting the  grim  and  forbidding  facts,  I am  anx- 
ious to  impress  you  with  the  truth  that  it  has  a 
wealth  of  treasure  of  the  other  kind.  I ask  you 
to  read  Arnold’s  “Pearls  of  Faith,’’  that  you  may 
discover  there  the  trustful,  tender,  mystic  side  of 
Mohammedanism.  Look  into  the  history  and 
literature  of  what  is  called  Sufism,  a Moham- 
medan sect,  founded,  it  is  said,  by  Rabia,  who 
flourished  in  the  first  centurj^  of  the  Hegira,  and 
was  buried  at  Jerusalem.  She  carried  the  doc- 
trine of  divine  love  to  its  highest  potency.  Her 
spirit,  interpreted  by  a Moslem  poet,  has  been 
translated  to  us  by  James  Freeman  Clarke  in  the 
following  exquisite  lines: 

“Rabia,  sick  upon  her  bed, 

By  two  saints  was  visited, — 

Holy  Malik,  Hassaii  wise; 

Men  of  mark  in  Moslem  eyes. 

Hassan  said,  ‘Whose  prayer  is  pure 

Will  God’s  chastisement  endure.’ 

Malik  from  a deeper  sense. 

Uttered  his  experience: — 

‘He  who  loves  his  Master’s  choice 

Will  in  chastisements  rejoice.’ 


Mohammed,  the  Prophet  of  Arabia  31 

Rabia  saw  some  selfish  will 

In  their  maxims  lingering  still, 

And  replied:  ‘O  men  of  grace! 

He  who  sees  his  Master’s  face 

Will  not  in  his  prayers  recall 

That  he  is  chastised  at  all!’  ” 

Here  is  another  lesson  of  the  same  kind  taught 
in  Mohammedan  parable,  translated  for  us  by 
the  same  hand.  And  I have  no  doubt  that  the 
experience  here  portrayed  reflects  the  heart-life 
of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  Mohammedan  peo- 
ple as  it  reflects  the  experience  of  millions  in  all 
faiths,  and  of  many  who  think  they  have  no 
faith: 

“ ‘Allah,  Allah!’  cried  the  sick  man,  racked  with  pain 
the  long  night  through; 

Till  with  prayer  his  heart  was  tender,  till  his  lips  like 
honey  grew. 

But  at  morning  came  the  tempter;  said,  ‘Call  louder, 
child  of  pain! 

See  if  Allah  ever  hear,  or  answer  ‘Here  am  I’  again.’ 

Like  a stab,  the  cruel  cavil  through  his  brain  and  pulses 
went; 

To  his  heart  an  icy  coldness,  to  his  brain  a darkness 
sent. 

Then  before  him  stands  Elias;  says,  ‘My  child!  why 
thus  dismayed? 

Dost  repent  thy  former  fervor?  Is  thy  soul  of  prayer 
afraid?’ 


32  Mjhammed,  the  Prophet  of  Arabia 

‘Ah!’,  he  cried,  ‘I’ve  called  so  often;  never  heard  the 
‘Here  am  I;’ 

And  I thought  God  will  not  pity,  will  not  turn  on  me 
his  eye.’ 

Then  the  grave  Elias  answered,  ‘God  said,  ‘Rise, 
Elias,  go,— 

Speak  to  him,  the  sorely  tempted;  lift  him  from  his 
gulf  of  woe. 

‘Tell  him  that  his  very  longing  is  itself  an  answering 
cry; 

That  his  prayer,  ‘Come,  gracious  Allah,’  is  my  answer, 
‘Here  am  I.’ 

‘Every  inmost  aspiration  is  God’s  angel  undefiled; 

And  in  every  ‘O  my  Father!’  slumbers  deep  a ‘Here 
my  child.’  ” 

How  shall  I take  leave  of  this  last  of  the  seven 
masterful  prophets  who  have  swayed  by  their 
appeal  to  religion  the  life  of  the  race?  More  than 
in  any  of  our  preceding  studies  do  we  feel  a cer- 
tain solid  confidence  in  our  ground.  We  have 
been  touching  a character  which  one  biographer 
.says  “is  as  well  known  as  Milton  or  Luther.’’ 
This  can  hardly  be  true,  but  the  student  of  Mo- 
hammedanism does  see  a religion  forming  under 
his  eyes.  He  finds  a bible  practically  coined 
out  of  one  brain;  and  he  can  without  difficulty 
trace  this  bible  to  its  immediate  antecedents  and 
discover  its  unquestioned  sources.  Here  he  finds 
the  Sabaism,  or  star-worship,  of  the  desert,  the 


Mohammed,  the  Prophet  of  Arabia  33 

message  of  Persia’s  Magi,  Old  Testament  char- 
acters and  poetry,  the  Rabbinical  lore  of  the 
Talmud,  shreds  of  the  New  Testament  gospel, 
woven  like  so  many  strands  into  a rope  that  is 
to  bind  the  hearts  of  millions  to  God;  or,  to  say 
the  same  thing  in  stronger  and  higher  phrase, 
that  is  to  bind  them  to  dut}',  hold  them  to  the 
right.  As  heretofore,  we  find  that  the  most 
strikingly  original,  perhaps  the  only  original 
thing  in  Mohammedanism,  is  Mohammed.  The 
splendid  personality  is  the  unaccountable  and 
immeasurable  factor  in  this  as  in  all  the  great 
movements  of  human  history.  With  Mohammed 
as  with  the  other  great  teachers,  the  foolish 
heart  of  humanity  was  prompt  to  magnify  his 
birth  with  portents.  It  is  said  that  the  powers 
of  the  earth  were  shaken;  that  the  sacred  fire 
which  the  Magi  had  been  guarding  for  years 
went  out;  that  the  powers  of  evil  took  flight,  and 
that  the  guardians  of  the  sacred  stone  recognized 
that  a new  glory  was  on  the  earth,  and  gave 
thanks  when  the  mother  took  her  new-born  babe 
into  her  arms.  In  this  case,  as  in  previous 
cases,  it  is  our  privilege  to  change  this  miracle 
into  parable,  and  to  see  how  it  was  all  truer  than 
fact  and  that  it  is  the  poetry  of  history  which 
enables  us  to  find  the  spirit  that  has  animated 
the  body. 


34  Mohammed,  the  Prophet  oj  Arabia 

Mohammed  helps  us  in  this  comparative  study 
in  another  way.  We  are  close  enough  to  him  to 
discover  the  defects  in  his  human  lineaments. 
We  see  him  once  or  twice  venturing  on  a com- 
promise with  idolatry  and  discover  his  prompt 
recanting  and  his  splendid  shame.  In  later 
years,  unquestionably,  he  shared  the  errors  of 
his  time  and  of  his  antecedents,  and  consented 
to  polygamy,  though  the  students  urge  that  it 
was  for  political  and  not  for  licentious  reasons.  But 
I cannot  but  feel  that  it  was  to  the  permanent 
hurt  of  our  highest  ideality.  We  must  also  ad- 
mit that  he  alone  of  the  seven  great  teachers  of 
religion  drew  the  sword  in  the  interests  of  what 
seemed  to  him  the  truth.  But  before  we  dismiss 
him  utterly  on  that  account,  let  us  read  Carlyle’s 
stirring  defense.  He  asks,  ‘ ‘Where  did  he  get 
his  sword,  but  by  that  right  to  rule  and  to  lead 
which  Providence  has  given  to  the  masterful 
souls  of  the  past?”  These  blemishes  ought  not 
to  deter  us  from  seeking  an  acquaintance  with 
this  man,  this  book,  and  the  potent  stream  which 
is  still  flowing  through  the  world,  sharing  in  the 
work  of  redeeming  mankind  from  the  thrall  of 
the  animal  and  shaping  it  into  the  gloiy  of  the 
angel.  This  stream  has  in  it  refreshment,  not 
only  for  the  dusky  children  of  the  Ea.st,  but  for 
the  white-faced  dwellers  in  the  West,  the  so-called 
children  of  light.  Christianity  itself  hath  need  of 
this  old  gospel  of  the  desert,  which  inspires  forti- 
tude, which  transmutes  the  iron  heel  of  Fate  into 
the  will  of  God  and  makes  endurance  a heavenly 
grace. 


Mohammed,  the  Prophet  o*  Arabia  35 

Christianitj’  hath  need  again  of  the  universality 
of  Mohammedanism,  whose  simple  creed  has  in  it 
but  little  local  coloring  and  so  fits  all  men  and  all 
climes.  A writer  tinder  the  name  of  Ibn  Ishak 
startled  the  complacency  of  Europe  and  America 
a little  while  ago,  by  an  article  published  in  the 
Arena  on  “The  Future  of  Islam.’’  In  this  article 
he  predicts  the  time  when  Mohammedan  minarets 
shall  be  reared  in  Liverpool  and  in  Boston  for  the 
regeneration  of  the  Western  world,  and  he  advo- 
cates the  sending  of  Mohammedan  missionaries  to 
the  benighted  children  of  Christendom  in  Europe 
and  America,  to  lift  them  into  sobriety,  to  teach 
them  how  to  distribute  wealth  to  the  blessing  of 
the  many  rather  than  to  the  cursing  of  the  few, 
to  rebuke  the  selfishness  of  the  wealthy,  and  to 
alleviate  the  inebriety  of  our  besotted  millions. 
It  may  not  come  about  in  this  way,  but  we  cer- 
tainly should  tr>'  to  keep  ourselves  open  to  receive 
the  light  that  comes  not  from  one,  but  from  all 
nations.  We  should  welcome  these  friends  from 
the  far  East,  brothers  in  the  Universal  Church, 
members  in  the  Church  of  All  Souls,  communi- 
cants at  the  table  around  which  the  bread  of 
truth  and  the  wine  of  love  are  given  and  received. 

O,  my  friends!  let  not  this  study  of  the  master- 
ful spirits  of  history  pass  as  an  idle  episode  in  our 
lives,  a time  when  we  were  amused  by  the  strange- 
ness of  the  pictures  or  the  remoteness  of  the  ma- 
terials. I have  spoken  to  you  of  these  great 
beacon  lights  of  humanitj^  not  in  the  interest  of 
scholarship,  for  in  that  direction  I have  no  right 


36  Mohammed,  the  Prophet  of  Arabia 

to  speak,  but  in  the  interests  of  life,  in  the  inter- 
ests of  law  and  of  love,  in  the  name  of  moralit}^  and 
for  the  up-building  of  character.  I have  tried  to 
show  that  through  all  the  religious  experiences  of 
the  race  there  runs,  like  the  red  thread  in  the 
cordage  of  the  British  navy,  the  common  fiber  of 
duty  as  the  supreme  thing  of  love,  the  crowning 
law,  binding  us  all  to  the  natural,  which  is  the 
spiritual;  to  the  real,  which  is  the  ideal;  to  the 
common,  which  is  the  divine.  When  miracle  and 
dividing  creeds,  when  form  and  class-making  cer- 
emonials are  either  laid  aside  or  duly  .subordinated, 
then  and  not  till  then  will  the  faces  of  these  great 
masters  emerge  out  of  the  mi.st,  come  down  out  of 
the  clouds,  and  through  their  smiling  radiance 
stir  within  us  a sense  of  kinship,  a love  for  all 
mankind,  and  a rapturous  relish  for  this  world  of 
storm  and  sunshine,  this  world  of  winter  snows 
and  summer  blossoms,  this  world  of  bird-songs 
and  child-laughter,  this  world  whose  loves  lead  to 
anguish  and  to  loyalty.  Then  shall  we  exclaim 
with  the  enchanted  Miranda, 

“O  wonder! 

How  many  goodly  creatures  are  there  here! 

How  beauteous  mankind  is!  O brave  new  world, 

That  has  such  people  in  it!” 


